Pressing table



M. D] MAURO PRESSING TABLE May 7, 1940.

Filed May 16, 1939 mil" Maul/r0 Dp'Mou/cro,

.UZQIELZ, WW

Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES 2,200,132 ,PRESSING TABLE Mauro Di Mauro, Scranton, Pa., assignorof one half to Sheldon Pell, Scranton, Pa.

Application May 16, 1939, Serial No. 274,063

I Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in pressing tables and has to do, more particularly, with equipment employed in the pressing of apparel such as trousers, skirts, coats and the like, where- 5 in the goods-to be finished includes a tubular section .or sections and must'be finished on a platen commonly known as a pressing buck.

In clothingfactories particularly, such bucks commonly have the form of a hollow, steamjacketed metal casting and are employed in conjunction with a very heavy steam-jacketed pressing'iron weighing in the neighborhood of twenty pounds. In the pressing of a single pair of trousers upon bucks of such design, the operator must use the iron five distinct times and, be-

tween each operation, it is necessary to lift the iron from the work, place it upon a nearby iron rest and, after the'trouser material has been properly readjusted upon the buck and sponged, .20 again lift the iron onto the work: Thus, it will be appreciated, the pressman must lift and transfer the iron from buck to rest, and vice versa, a total of ten times in the pressing of a single pair of trousers. That the occupation of trousers-presser is characterized by a degree of fatigue approaching physical exhaustion at the end of an eight hour day is an accepted fact in the clothing industry.

It is a primary object of my invention to pro- 30 vide a novel pressing table construction which obviatessuch iron elevation and transfer; which, accordingly, vastly reduces fatigue of the operator employing such equipment; which speeds up production; and which yields a better-finished 1 5 article.

Another, and corollary, disadvantage inherent to pressing table constructions of the type with which the present invention is concerned, is wear and roughening of the pressing iron. Quite naturally, as the operator becomes more and more fatigued toward the end of the day, the placing of the iron upon its stand becomes more and more precipitous. In a short time; the smoothing surface of the iron, as well as the supporting 45 surface of the stand, becomes rough, and the quality of the work performable suffers. The iron must-then be reground, and the expense of such reconditioning and eventual iron replacement becomes a cost factor in plantpperation.

. 50 My invention has,for another object thereof,.ma-

'terial reduction of such wear and tear.

Further objects; and objects relating to economies anddetails of constructionand operation willmore definitely-appearfrom the detailed de- 55 escription; to; follow. In ;,on.e. instance, I a- CQI margins of the portions I; of the stand are up- 5 plish the objects of my invention by the means vation, portions of the iron rest and buck base being depicted in cross section to illustrate details of construction therein;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal'sectional view'taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 and diagrammatically de- 15 picting the limits of pivotal movement characterizing the buck illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2; and 1 Fig. 4 is a detail vertical sectional view of a slightly modified buck structure in which an annular series of ball bearings is employed in lieu of the rollers illustrated in Figs. 1 through 3.

Throughout the. several figures, similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts.

In a broad sense, the basic concepts of my invention may be said to find embodiment in an apparatus for the hand-finishing of trousers, and like objects having a tubular section to be pressed, consisting of a stand having a horizontal top surface adapted to receive and support a conventional tailors iron, a cantilever platen the, extended arm of which is adapted to receive and support the tubular member to be pressed, means for mounting said stand and cantilever platen with their respective iron-receptive surfaces in a common horizontal plane, and guide means associated with said mounting means for selectively positioning said co-planar iron-receptive surfaces in either a relative position of approximate continuity or a relative position of wide spacing such as to permit facile application or removal of the tubular member'to be pressed on said platen arm. More specifically, reference is made tov the preferred embodiment of my invention depicted in Figs. 1 through 3, wherein there is illustrated a table It! supported upon conventional legs ll, adjacent the right extremity of which table is mounted an elevated stand l2 having a horizontal top surface 12a adapted to support a conventional tailors iron l3 of the type heated by steam supplied through flexible inlet and outlet hose l4 and IS. The stand i2 is suitably cushioned upon the table It] by an interposed block of wood or similar material. The rear and side wardly flanged as shown at I2b and I2c, thereby preventing escape of the iron therefrom.

At the left end of the table II) is disposed a mount IT for the pressing buck I8, which mount is pivotally assembled with a standard I9 extending upwardlyfrom the floor upon which the legs II are carried. The two arms I'Ia, Nb of the mount I! are suitably journaled about the standard I9 and dissociation of the mount with respect to the standard I9 is precluded by a nut I9a threaded upon the upper end of the standard. To insure facile pivotability of the mount- H with respect to the table Ill, a fiat metal plate 30 is secured to the table and between this plate and the base of the mount I'I are provided a, plurality of rollers 20 received in recessed portions in the base of the mount and assembled therewith by pin-like axles 2|, drive-fitted into the base of the mount.

Upon the mount I7 is secured the pressing buck or cantilever platen l8 which is of hollow, steam-jacketed construction, well known in the art. Steam is supplied to the steam space within the platen by means of inlet and outlet pipes 22 and 23 suitably connected for supply by flexible steam hose members 2 5, 25. The mount IT, with its platen I8 is, thus, freely pivotable about the axis of the standard I9, and to permit such free pivotal motion a slight spacing exists between the free end of the platen I8 and the adjacent forward edge of the iron rest portion lZa. More than this, it will be noted that the top surface of the platen I8 and the top surface of the iron rest portion I2a. are disposed in the same horizontal plane, whereby the iron I3 may be freely slid from rest to platen, and from platen to rest, without interference from the spaced edges of these two members.

In the position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, it is obvious that a tubular object such as the leg of a pair of trousers could not be installed upon, nor removed from, the platen I8. However, as-illustrated by dotted lines in Fig 3, the mount I! with its platen may be swung out of alinement with the stand I2 to an extent sufiicient to permit of such installation and removal of tubular articles of apparel. To insure alinement of the platen I8 with the stand I2, such as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a stop member 26 is provided upon the plate 20, limiting the extent to which the platen may be swung in a counterclockwise direction. A similar stop member 21 is provided at the opposite side of the standard I9 which limits the extent to which the platen may be swungin a clockwise direction, and the thus-defined position is such as to insure clearance, between the free end of the platen I8 and the stand I2, such that the tubular article of apparel may be readily installed and removed from the platen arm. The stops may, obviously, be of any form, but are preferably, as shown, simple abutme'nts engageable with the base edge of the mount IT.

The operation of the thus described apparatus should be self-apparent. Through the simple expedient of drawing the arm I8 toward the operator to the limit of extent permitted by the stop 2?, the trouser leg or similar'tubular article may be slid upon the free end of the platen. After such installation of the tubular article, theplaten is pushed away from the operator until the stop 25 is abutted by the portion Ila of the mount, whereupon the iron is may be slid along the stand portion IZa, onto the platen I8 and upon the tu-v bular piece of apparel (not shown). Upon completion of the pressing of that portion of the tubular article which is disposed upon the top surface of the platen I8, the iron may be returned to the stand portion I2a, and the tubular article may be rotated upon the platen to bring a new portion thereof into disposition upon the top of the platen. The iron may then be again slid along the horizontally alined members I20. and I8. When the entire tubular article has been thus operated upon, the platen may be again swung toward the operator and thearticle may be removed with ease. It will be noted that the .movement of the iron from its stand I2 to the platen I8 is a simple planar shifting, involving no requirement of lifting. The operator is, therefore, notsubjected to the burden of lifting and lowering the iron', and may devote substantially his entire energies to the pressing operation. More than this, the elimination of the requirementof lifting and lowering the'heavy tailors iron, which weighs in the neighborhood of twenty pounds, results in less wearandtearlof-..the iron, platen and stand surfaces.a condition characteristic of all prior art arrangements with which I am familiar and one which necessitates refinishing of theiron surface to remove irregularities and roughness developed therein.

I am aware that numerous changesin size, configuration, andv structural design are possible without departing from the basic concepts of my invention, For example, thespecific roller bearing pivot arrangement disclosed as. a preferred embodiment of my invention may. be dispensed with in favor of a ball bearing construction such as illustrated in Fig. 4, wherein the platen H8 is pivotally mounted upon the mounting member III by means of a bolt I28, and a multiplicitywof ball bearings I20 are interposed between the platen and mount and arranged in annular races formed therein. Other variations of a similar nature will appear to those skilled in the art upon familiarization with the concepts of my invention ing said platen to said table anddefinitely maintaining the top surface of its extended arm in the horizontal plane of iron-support of said vertical-pivot platen mount the vertical pivotaxis of which is spaced from the proximate edge of said iron stand a distance equal to the radial length of said extended platen arm enabling ses55 stand, said last-mentioned means including a.

lective manual placement of said platen arm with its horizontally-maintained top surface in either a position of substantial continuity or a position of wide spacing with respect to the coplariar iron-supporting surface of said stand.

2. In an apparatus for the hand-finishing of trousers and like objects having a tubular section to be pressed: a stand having a horizontal top surface adapted to receive and support a conventional tailors iron, a cantilever platen the ex- 9 tended arm of which is adapted to receive and support the tubular member to be pressed, and I 7 means for positively mounting said stand and cantilever platen with their respective iron-receptive surfaces maintained in a fixed common 1 horizontal plane, said last-mentioned means including positive guide means for enabling manual shifting of the relative position of said co-planarmaintained platen and stand such that the free ,end of said platen is selectively disposable in either a position of substantially contiguous continuity with said stand or a position of wide spacing with respect thereto.

I 3. In an apparatus for the hand-finishing of trousers and like objects having a tubular sec- ;tion to be pressed: a stand having a horizontal ,top surface adapted to receive and support a ,conventional tailors iron, a cantilever platen [the extended arm of which is adapted to receive and support the tubular member to be pressed, means for positively mounting said stand and cantilever platen with their respective iron-re- I ceptive surfaces maintained in a fixed common horizontal plane, said last-mentioned means including positive guide means for enabling manual shifting of the relative position of said co-planarmaintained platen and stand such that the free end of said platen is selectively disposable in either a position of substantially contiguous continuity with said stand or a position of wide spacing with respect thereto, and stop means defining said two selective positions recited.

4. In an apparatus for the hand-finishing of trousers and like objects having a tubular section to .be pressed: a table, a stand mounted upon said table having a horizontal top surface adapted to receive and support a conventional tailors iron, a cantilever platen the extended arm of which is adapted to receive and support the tubular member to be pressed, means for securing said platen to said table and definitely maintaining the top surface of its extended arm in the horizontal plane of iron support of said stand, said last-mentioned means including a verticalpivot platen mount the vertical pivot-axis of which is spaced from the proximate edge of said iron stand a distance equal to the radial length of said extended platen arm enabling selective mansupporting surface of said stand, and stop means a for positively defining said position of substantial continuity during performance of the pressing operation. v

5. In an apparatus for the hand-finishing of trousers and like objects having a tubular section to be pressed: a table, a stand mounted upon said table having a horizontal top surface adapted to receive and support a conventional tailors iron, a steam chambered cantilever platen the extended arm of which is adapted to receive and support the tubular member to be pressed, means for securing said platen to said table and definitely maintaining the top surface of its extended arm in the horizontal plane of iron support of said stand, said last-mentioned means including a vertical-pivot platen mounting the verticalpivot-axis of which is spaced from the proximate edge of said iron stand a distance equal to the radial length of said extended platen arm enabling selective manual placement of said platen arm with its horizontally-maintained top surface in either a position of substantial continuity or a position of wide spacing with respect to the co-planar iron-supporting surface of said stand, a steam-supply conduit attached to said platen adjacent its pivot mounting and communicating with the platen steam chamber in either selective position recited, and stop means associated with said pivot mounting for positively defining the position of substantial continuity of platen and iron stand and positively limiting the extent of swing of said steam-supply-coupled platen arm.

MAURO DI MAURO. 

